Clinical studies and practice have shown that reducing pressure in proximity to a tissue site can augment and accelerate growth of new tissue at the tissue site. The applications of this phenomenon are numerous, but it has proven particularly advantageous for treating wounds. Regardless of the etiology of a wound, whether trauma, surgery, or another cause, proper care of a wound is important to the outcome. Treatment of wounds or other tissue with reduced pressure may be commonly referred to as “negative-pressure therapy,” but is also known by other names, including “negative-pressure wound therapy,” “reduced-pressure therapy,” “vacuum therapy,” “vacuum-assisted closure,” and “topical negative-pressure,” for example. Negative-pressure therapy may provide a number of benefits, including migration of epithelial and subcutaneous tissues, improved blood flow, and micro-deformation of tissue at a wound site. Together, these benefits can increase development of granulation tissue and reduce healing times.
There is also widespread acceptance that debridement of a tissue site can be highly beneficial for new tissue growth. Debridement may refer to a process for removing dead, damaged, or infected tissue from a tissue site for improving the healing potential of healthy tissue remaining at the tissue site. Several factors may make proper debridement difficult, such as challenging wound locations, immobile patients, and environmental constraints. Further, debridement may often be painful for the patient, and in some circumstances may also require a high level of skill from the caregiver, thereby presenting additional challenges. Additionally, debridement methods that are less painful to patients may be relatively slow processes. Therefore, improvements to debridement devices, systems, and methods that may reduce the amount of time to debride a tissue site as well as reduce the risks of pain for the patient or damage to healthy tissue associated with conventional methodologies may be desirable.